House Fire - Repair Costs

JadonM

They’ve told us the repairs were just over £8000, however, the solicitors believe work was done that didn’t need to be done. That is something that happened to someone else who had a similar situation, a lot of work took place that never needed to happen.

One example being, they cleaned the entire kitchen then ripped it out months later, they claimed the wood had swelled but we saw the units dumped in the front garden and no wood had swelled - photos were taken and provided as evidence to council.

We don’t dispute having to pay money, but we don’t believe it’s all been done correctly and we believe they should deduct for what they broke/threw away.

LilElvis

JadonM wrote: »

It wasn’t a case of leaving the dogs in a house with a naked flame, they were in the garden at the time anyway. This was an unfortunate accident, which we’ve obviously learnt from but I don’t think the dog warden should’ve come to us in such a way that as good as forced us into giving the dogs over, when we never actually agreed.

However, the dog kennels were around £220 according to the invoice we’ve got a copy of.

Was this for one day? Or did you let them continue to care for your dogs for longer than this?

LilElvis

JadonM wrote: »

They’ve told us the repairs were just over £8000, however, the solicitors believe work was done that didn’t need to be done. That is something that happened to someone else who had a similar situation, a lot of work took place that never needed to happen.

One example being, they cleaned the entire kitchen then ripped it out months later, they claimed the wood had swelled but we saw the units dumped in the front garden and no wood had swelled - photos were taken and provided as evidence to council.

We don’t dispute having to pay money, but we don’t believe it’s all been done correctly and we believe they should deduct for what they broke/threw away.

How much did the tinned dog food cost?

How old was the chest of drawers? Unless they were brand new then you could only expect the value of a second hand replacement, otherwise that would be betterment.

G_M

There must surely be more beind the dog story that we're being told.


Dog wardens don't just take dogs into kennels for no good reason....

EachPenny

JadonM wrote: »

They’ve told us the repairs were just over £8000, however, the solicitors believe work was done that didn’t need to be done. That is something that happened to someone else who had a similar situation, a lot of work took place that never needed to happen.

One example being, they cleaned the entire kitchen then ripped it out months later, they claimed the wood had swelled but we saw the units dumped in the front garden and no wood had swelled - photos were taken and provided as evidence to council.

We don’t dispute having to pay money, but we don’t believe it’s all been done correctly and we believe they should deduct for what they broke/threw away.

It is the council's house and they are entitled to do whatever work they consider necessary to make it habitable again.

It is completely justified for them to do an initial clean (sanitise) to make it safe for staff to go in to do further work. If that further work identifies that the kitchen needs replacing entirely then that is their call.

In slightly different circumstances you might be posting here that the council just came in and did a quick fix and you are now living in a house with a kitchen that smells of smoke and it is bad for your health... and asking if you can sue them for it.

Personally I think your legal advice as you've explained it is not a brilliant approach. Making a counter claim for things like tins of dog food looks petty, and if the matter went to court would not really put you in a positive light.

The BBC article refers to Tenants Liability insurance. Have you looked into getting this to protect against future problems?

JadonM

We tried to contact the housing officer to find out where the dogs were, we were told we weren’t allowed to know. That made no sense at all and I questioned her but she refused to tell me.

I don’t know the age of the drawers unfortunately, but would’ve been over two years but I have no way to prove that either way. However, I did provide proof of cost and they took photos at the time anyway and promised the full cost back previously (verbally).

As for their being more to the story, I can assure you there is not. She turned up and we told her we were still looking but she said she’s been told she has to come and get the dogs and that’s it, and demanded the leads etc.

JadonM

I suppose whether it’s petty or not would be a matter of opinion, however, we have provided evidence of everything we’ve said to them. They’ve provided none, other than the invoices which didn’t explain any work that took place.

We have looked into it, there is one company that we can find that offers anything remotely like it which seems strange considering if it was as good as it seems - why isn’t it offered more widely?

EachPenny

G_M wrote: »

There must surely be more beind the dog story that we're being told.

Dog wardens don't just take dogs into kennels for no good reason....

Possibly... but if the council are reacting to a fire knowing they need to provide emergency accommodation for the humans, they may have an automatic response of sending the dog warden if pets are involved.

In the chaos of a fire it might be easy for there to be miscommunication on the scene, with the dog warden only interested in ensuring the welfare of the dogs and getting them away from the chaos as swiftly as possible.

It is one of the unfortunate things of being a council tenant - to an extent you hand quite a lot of your decision making over to the council in the event of an emergency. The way the media react to a council failing to do its 'duty' means the result can often be a pre-emptive overreaction. You can imagine the newspaper headlines if the poor dogs had spent the night tied to a streetlight because nobody from the council bothered to come and collect them.

EachPenny

JadonM wrote: »

I suppose whether it’s petty or not would be a matter of opinion, however, we have provided evidence of everything we’ve said to them. They’ve provided none, other than the invoices which didn’t explain any work that took place.

Put it this way. You go into a pub and order a round of drinks. The total comes to £21.50. You fumble around for some coins and the landlord says "It's ok, the £20 will do mate".

You then notice your pint hasn't quite been filled to the pint mark. Would you then demand the landlord tops your drink up?

That's a good yardstick as to whether something is petty or not.

The council has written off several thousand pounds of costs which it would be entitled to claim off you, and in response your legal advisor told you to make a fuss about some tins of dog food?

JadonM

They’ve written it off, yes, but that’s because a lot of the work that took place didn’t need doing in the first place. They cocked up a lot with the communication side of things too, left us waiting ages to find out what we’d have to pay despite having the invoices in September last year - we only got told the cost exactly one year on from the fire.. they insist it’s a coincidence...

It’s been a pretty big mess on their side to be honest, which is what a lot of people we’ve spoken to have agreed with and believe they’ve cut it so much to make them look better to gloss over the problems.

Yes it was our fault, yes we know we have to pay, yes we appreciate it could’ve been worse. However, I don’t see why we should pay for things that we never agreed to.